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Sunday, February 7, 2010

BIOS Disassembly Ninjutsu 2nd Edition Progress

Hello all.
I just want to inform about the latest status of the manuscript. It'll be considerably longer than the previous one and the chapter count will increase rather dramatically because I decided to divide the "monster" chapters in the previous edition into smaller chapters which hopefully easier to understand. I didn't realize about the really huge (read: hard to grasp) chapters prior to re-reading the copy that I have at hand. Some reorganization happens in it as well.
Aside from those issues, I really want to dedicate a chapter to Coreboot this time around. Hopefully, I can make it in time.
Cheers :-)

Actually, it's February. but looking at the current progress, it would probably be pushed back to March. I expect the 2nd edition of the book to be available in stores in April. Well, the samples would be PC based for the moment because I don't have enough time to screw-up and experiment with Laptop BIOS. I'll post it here if there is any change on that plan.

What is so different about laptop BIOS that you haven't really worked with them to date? Is it just because you don't have laptops around to play with, or is it because they're more of a tightly integrated package, and thus have more proprietary stuff, since they're not meant to plug into a variety of components like on a desktop?

Laptops contain an embedded controller (a kind of microcontroller) which controls the motherboard and of course the booting process. These embedded controllers are motherboard-specific and mostly proprietary. It's very hard to modify Laptop BIOS because of this without breaking it. I haven't had the time to research it thoroughly as well.

Hi jb, the second edition will not come with a CD but you'll be able to download the source code in the book. A video would be nice. However, it's not planned for the book. I might provide it later not officially as part of the book.

Hi, you'll be able to buy it at Amazon and many others outlets where No Starch Press sell them. About the time frame, the progress hits some problems recently because my publisher wants to target a much broader audience which means a lot of rework. I'll post more about it when I'm done. Maybe it'll be June before the book comes out.

I've been waiting eagerly for the second edition, because it's impossible to get a copy of the first edition ($200 at amazon!). It's too bad there isn't even a preview online. Don't suppose you over digital copies for people if they help you with the rewrites? :-)

The wait will pay off. That's all I can say because the new edition will not be "just a rewrite" but will be a rather different "animal", which should be much easier to understand than the previous one. PS: I'm in the middle of nowhere (Indonesia), so I can't do anything about it right now.

Hello all, The book has been delayed due to some problems with my publisher. I might change publisher if the publisher and me cannot find workable solution to move things forward. I'll keep you posted guys.

Thanks for the update. I tried to order from two overseas bookshops with no luck. Months later, I still don't have your first edition. I would really love to read your material. I'll be first in line when its ready.

Anyway, I have terminated my contract with No Starch Press for the moment to concentrate on adding more UEFI contents to the book and to look for other opportunity to publish the book faster. There's nothing wrong with No Starch Press (NSP). It's just NSP is short on man power to help me on the editing side.

I'm not really sure yet, how long until the book will be available, but looking at the current situation, it could be another 3-4 months because I have to raise funds to carry out the experiments for the book.

Thanks for the response. I will definitely be looking for it. I have searched the net and you are the best teacher on the subject I have found. I hope you can get the funding you need and the editing you require. Do you need motherboards to test with?

Hi Will, Unfortunately, I don't have one that I can sell at the moment (the one I have is for my reference). I suggest you to just wait because right now I have been in contact with Luis Miras who would be the editor and I'm back with No Starch Press.

I hope I am not asking you too much about the book. I have reason to believe my laptop was infected by BIOS manipulation in the past. I want to learn how it was done so I can further understand the BIOS backups I created. I am new to this level of programming but I will pick it up. You don't have to post this message. I just wanted you to know.

Hi Will, Well yeah, thanks. Everything is fine here. I live in the southern island and moreover in a city located in a rather mountainous area. The tsunami comes from the north, so only islands on the northern part would be affected. I believe the effect here must be less than during the 2004 tsunami coz it was very close.

no not yet. I'm still researching the content. Enormous amount of materials need to be prepared because of the "tectonic" shift in BIOS to UEFI migration. For example there are more compiled rather than assembled code..

About Me

I'm a software developer and a book author, mainly working on low level software developments, quite adept to Windows and Linux driver development. I've been using C as my programming language for about 6 years. My driver development experiences are still limited to Windows 2000/XP and Linux kernel 2.4. Well, I'm back trying to catch-up with the rest of the industry in those subjects. Over the years, I've been working on BIOS reverse engineering as well.